Coal washer and separator



w. F. MARTIN. COAL WASHER AND SEPARATOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-12,1921.

1,41 2,29 1. Patented Apr. 11, 1922.

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W. F. MARTIN.

COAL WASHER AND SEPARATOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-12,192].

1 ,4; 1 1 Patented Apr. 11', 1922 2 SHhETS-SHEET 2.

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PATENT "OFFICE.

WILLIAM F. MARTIN, OF WORMLEYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

COAL WASHER AND SEPARATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Apr. 11, 1922- Applicationfiled September 12, 1921. Serial No. 500,101.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM F. MARTIN, a citizen of the United States,residingat Wormleysburg, in the county of Cumberland and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in CoalWashers and Separators; andI do declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relatesto an improved device for washing and separatingcoal, ore, and the like. 7

The principal object of the invention is to generally improve upondevices of this class by the provision of one of extreme simplicity anddurability which embodies a trough having a screen onto which thematerial 'to be washed and separated is deposited, together with anumber of pockets underneath of the screen for collecting the wastematerials which are separated from the usable or desired materials bythe waterwhich passes downwardly through the trough and into and out ofthe various pockets.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of the classdescribed embodying the aforesaid structure the pockets includingretractible side portions for permitting the contents thereof to bedisposed of whenever desired.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of this classwherein the aforesaid pockets are relatively shallow and are disposedvery close to one another so,

that the current of water will rise to a sufiicient height beforepassing through the discharge opeiiing to contact any waste materialwhich tends to stay onthescreen, thus loosening and carrying saidmaterial with it through the discharge. v

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device of thisclass including novel means for simultaneouslyactuating the retractibleportions of the various pockets, said means being located at pointswhere it can be operated conveniently from either end of the trough. 7

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent duringthe course of the following description.

' trough.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and inwhich like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout thesame:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a device constructed in accordance withthis invention, a portion of the separating screen being broken away todisclose the details beneath it more clearly.

generally an elongated trough which is designed. to be supported indownwardly inclined position by any suitable means. This trough ispreferably made up of spaced parallel side pieces-2 connected togetherat their ends by cross-pieces 3. Secured to the parts 2 and 3 adjacentthe upper edges of the lat ter and stretched across and held in place inany'suitable manner is a suitablestraining device in the form of a finemesh screen l.

At this point it may be stated that the crosspiece at the lower end ofthe trough is not quiteas high as the one at the opposite end so as topermit the coal or other material being acted on to be easily dischargedfrom the As previously indicated, beneath this screen 4 is a pluralityof closely disposed adjoining pockets 5 so constructed as to permit thecontents thereof to be easily and readily removed whenever desired orneces sary and although the pockets may be constructed invarious ways toaccomplish this end,, I.prefer to form each one from a relatively widedownwardly. inclined board 6 rigidly secured to the side pieces 2,together with arelativelynarrow substantially vertically disposed board7 which is hingedly connected to an adjacent board 6 and bears againstthe lower longitudinal edge of the escape.

board with which it cooperates to provide a pocket.

To hold the boards 6 and 7 in operative or closed position' such asshown in Fig. 4, I prefer to make use of novel means which is such thatit simultaneously moves all of said boards to the position shown in Fig.5 to enable the contents thereof to be disposed of. lVhile this meansmay be of other construction, I prefer to simply employ a relativelylong rod 8 which extends entirely beneath the various pockets, the samebeing pivotally connected at the points 9 with depending brackets 10rigidly secured to the intermediate portions of the boards 7. It isobvious that by moving this rod longitudinally in one direction or theother, the board 7 will be moved with it and will assume either of thepositions shown in Figs. 4 or 5 according to the direction of movementof the rod. In order to impart such movement to the latter, I make useof novel means which serves to hold it in a set position and serves topermit it to be operated from either end of the trough. This meanspreferably consists of links 11 which are pivotally connected to one endof the rod and to a crank arm 12 on a cross shaft 13 rotatably mountedin suitable bearings carried by the longitudinal side pieces 2. The rod13 extends beyond one of said side pieces and an operating lever 14 isfixed thereto for the purpose of rotating the rod as is obvious. It isdesired to associate with this lever, a suitable means for maintainingit in various positions and the means employed is better shown in Fig.6. By referring to this figure it will be seen that an arcuate aperturedrack 15 is securedto the side board and that a spring pressed dog 16 ispivotally mounted on the aforesaid lever 14; and has its laterallydirected end extending through an aperture in the latter so that it canbe placed in any one of the apertures in the rack to lock the lever invarious positions.

It is to be noted that the aforesaid pockets 5 do not extend entirely tothe ends of the trough and the endmost ones are spaced from the endpieces of the trough to provide relatively large open spaces 17 and 18through which excess water can These large open spaces have chutes 17and 18 beneath them, the first one being in the form of a board securedto the lower edges of the side pieces and having an inclined dischargeplate 19 at its'free end. The other chute is inclined from its point ofconnection with the narrow cross piece 3 at the lower end of the troughand terminates adjacent the lowermost pocket. It is to be stated herethat these chutes could be constructed otherwise and simply serve toconvey excess water from the ends of the trough to a suitable point ofdischarge adjacent the center, and if desired suitable conduits may beconnected with the chutes to carry the waste water to distant points ofdischarge or the chutes may be brought rather close together to enablethe water to be discharged at the center of the trough into a suitablereceptacle which may be placed beneath the latter.

In use, the coal or other material to be washed is deposited on thescreen 1 as evenly as possible, or at the upper end of the trough, and asupply of water is discharged onto the material so as to separate thewaste dust and other small particles from the good coal, leaving onlythe large lumps on the screen to roll down the inclined surface of thelatter and be discharged at the lower end of the trough into a pile orinto a car, which ever is desired. As before pointed out, the excesswater will pass along the chutes 17 and 18 and will be discharged at thecenter ofthe trough and into a receptacle or will be taken care of inthe manner above suggested. Of course, some of the waste material willbe carried with this excess water, but the greater portion of thematerial will settle in the pockets 5 and in View of the fact that thelatter adjoin one another, the water will flow from one to another andwill assume a height to pass upwardly through the screen to loosen thewaste material which tends to stick on the latter and will carry suchmaterial downwardly and deposit it into one of the lower pockets or willcarry it down so that it can be discharged with the water through thechute 18. When the pockets become filled with waste material, theoperator simply grasps one of the handles 14.- and depresses the upperend of the locking dog 15 to permit the handle to be moved in adirection whereby 'a longitudinal movement will be imparted to the rod8. As before pointed out, p when this rod isso moved, it swings themovable sides 7 of the pockets to the positions shown in Figure 5 wherethe contents is allowed to be dumped into a receiver. \Vhen the pocketsare cleaned, the rod is moved to itsoriginal position again and thepockets closed. As above pointed out, there will be operating means ateither end of the trough to permit the rod 8 to be controlled from thesepoints' The down flowing ourwill, of course, carry the clean coalthrough the discharge end of the trough.

At this point, I wish to state that the trough and parts associatedtherewith may rent of water passing through the trough, Z

be made of wood or metal as preferred, and

may be of any size and width to adapt the device to the workingconditions and to the proportion of discharge thrown onto the screen.The retractible sides of the pockets may be opened from time to timetocontrol the flow of water to make the current slow or swift as desiredand to permit a continuous discharge of the waste material. I am alsoled to state here that although I have confined the description more orless to using the device as a coal washer, I wish it to be understood,as pointed out hereinbefore, that the device may well serve for washingother materials. Then again, the parts from which the pockets are formedmay be composed of one stationary part and one movable part or bothparts may be made movable if such a pocket is found more desirable inpractical use. Furthermore, the means for simultaneously operating themovable sides of the pockets need not be constructed exactly as shownand described, but may be varied within the limits of the in vention asclaimed.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that by employing atrough embodying the pockets having retractible sides, the water andmaterials to be washed can be deposited on the sc-reenat one end or atany other suitable point and maintained in a uniform mass untilthoroughly washed. It will also be seen that with the structure shown,the foreign matter will be effectively separated and filtered throughthe screen into the pockets and carried to a suitable point of deposit,this being accomplished by simply manipulating the operating levers ateither end of the trough. Any suitable means may be employed forsupporting the latter in various inclined positions.

Persons who read the foregoing description carefully in connection withthe accompanying drawings will doubtless be able to obtain a clearunderstanding of the invention. In view of this, a more lengthy anddetailed description is thought unnecessary.

Since probably the best results may be obtained with the constructionand arrangement herein shown and described, this is taken as thepreferred embodiment of the invention. However, I wish it to beunderstood that minor changes coming within the scope of the inventionas claimed may be resorted to if desired.

I claim:

1. A device of the class described comprising a trough including ascreen on which the material to be separated is deposited and aplurality of pockets arranged beneath said screen for collecting wastematerial, each pocket including one stationary inclined side and asubstantially vertical retractable side, and means for actuating thelast named sides of the pockets.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1, said actuating means for theretractible sides of the pocket, being a-rod extending beneath thepockets and having connection with the retractible sides forsimultaneously actuating the latter, and means for moving said rodlongitudinally.

3. A washing and separating device comprising a trough composed oflongitudinal spaced side pieces connected together by transverse endpieces, a plurality of waste material collecting pockets arrangedbetween said side pieces and spaced from said end pieces, each pocketbeing formed from an inclined part rigidly secured between the sidepieces and a substantially vertical part hingedly connected with theupper end of the adjacent stationary piece and bearing against the lowerend of the adjoining stationary piece, a plurality of depending bracketssecured to said hinged pieces, a longitudinally disposed rod pivotallyconnected with said brackets for simultaneously moving said hingedpieces, means for imparting longitudinal movement to said rod, a screenarranged between the side pieces of said trough and disposed over saidpocket and chutes arranged at the opposite ends of said trough forconveying waste materials to a suitable point of discharge.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

WVILLIAM F. MARTIN.

